All I can say is good thing Saturn didn't follow through with this design or we'd be talking about the demise of Saturn 3 years after its launch.

With the exception of the front clip and headlights, I thought it much resembled the first gen sedan right down to the wheel design.

It's probably because I was a toddler when that report was recorded, but I never realized the introduction of Saturn was that big of a deal. People were putting even up billboards and begging Saturn to pick their location.

Some time ago, I came across footage of the fist Saturn being driven off the line, followed by Roger Smith making a speech. Pretty cool to watch, but I can't seem to find it now.

There was so much hope and optimism in those early days. It's so sad to see it come to this.

We can thank Jack Smith (GM CEO) and Stephen Yokich (UAW) for this one. They killed this car company in the 1990s. By the time Rick Wagoner and Bob Lutz took the helm, Saturn was essentially a dead man walking. The die had been cast long before Rick Wagoner took over and started giving it some attention, although I do give Wagoner and Lutz credit for at least trying to save it.

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I was a member of the first Dealership Management training session in Spring Hill in June of 1990. The instructor was Dora Ann Sanchez Mead and she was awesome. They introduced us to a video called "Spring in Spring Hill" which documented the development of the Saturn project. I used that tape with every employee that I hired for the next 14 years. Still have a copy.

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Hear ya there, SalemCat, a sentiment that is shared by many. Had they left well enough alone, there's a good chance Saturn would still be here, and a strong contributor to GM's coffers. The designs, facility, and all were paid off in 1994. With a freshening up of the interior and exterior trim every once in a while, and the never ending engineering changes to emissions parts, the S could still be in production today. So many people just loved the S car and how straightforward it was, and still want new ones to replace their high mileage, aging ones...which are often handed down to another family member because they still run, drive, and look fine. What shocked me was when GM decided to replace the J body platform and did not go to copies of the S series. With all the advantages of a true spaceframe with polymer panels, that would have been an easy interchange, since you can literally drive one of these around with no body on it. Make your interior and outer skins Chevy or whatever, and still have all the selling points. I do like my Ion, but in total sum I would rather be driving a 2004 SC2. The Vue was a good addition to the line, but from there, it all sort of led to the reasoning that GM and their reinholders used to ultimately kill us. At least they got use of us as a public testbed, but all the publicity fanfare heaped upon the 2008 Malibu for winning NA Car of the Year and the Aura doing so a year before without but one commercial comes to mind as an indicator of where the resources were allotted. Not that we were ever a glitzy type of outfit, but still...

Guess when "different" could not be left what it was, it joined the rest in front of the firing line. Funny how you heard the government say they did not want GM to keep doing "business as usual" after taking money. They had a division that didn't, had loyal customers who, even after they forced us away from our solid, utilitarian, easy-to-own roots kept coming back and buying whatever we had to offer, but still chose to pitch all the enthusiasm they earned through a good product and fair, straightforward interaction with customers. And every single S was made right here in the USA, something that is now back in fashion...

...A different kind of parts guy...now in a bow tie!

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